Increased resistance to Taenia crassiceps murine cysticercosis in Qa-2 transgenic mice.
We previously reported important differences in resistance to Taenia crassiceps murine cysticercosis between BALB/c substrains. It was suggested that resistance might correlate with expression of the nonclassic class I major histocompatibility complex (MHC) Qa-2 antigen; BALB/cAnN is Qa-2 negative and highly susceptible to T. crassiceps, whereas BALB/cJ expresses Qa-2 and is highly resistant. In this study, we investigated the role of Qa-2 in mediating resistance to cysticercosis by linkage analysis and infection of Qa-2 transgenic mice. In BALB/cAnN x (C57BL/6J x BALB/cAnN)F1 and BALB/cAnN x (BALB/cJ x BALB/cAnN)F1 backcrosses, the expression of Qa-2 antigen correlated with resistance to cysticercosis. Significantly fewer parasites were recovered from infected Qa-2 transgenic male and female mice than from nontransgenic mice of similar genetic background. These results clearly demonstrate that the Qa-2 MHC antigen is involved in resistance to T. crassiceps cysticercosis.
Fragoso
G
G
Department of Immunology, Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas, UNAM, México D.F., México.
Lamoyi
E
E
Mellor
A
A
Lomelí
C
C
Hernández
M
M
Sciutto
E
E
D000818:Animals; D003551:Cysticercosis / Q000276:immunology*; D005260:Female; D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008815:Mice, Inbred Strains; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D012737:Sex Factors; D013045:Species Specificity
D015395:Histocompatibility Antigens Class I; C032907:Q surface antigens